Photography Award

What is the Yves Rocher Foundation Photography Award?

In partnership with the International Festival of Journalism “Visa pour l’Image-Perpignan”, the Yves Rocher Foundation decided to create the Yves Rocher Foundation Photography Award.

The Yves Rocher Foundation Photography Award is presented to a professional photographer who wishes to engage in journalistic work on environmental issues, relations between humanity and the planet, or key issues in sustainable development.

The €8,000 Award is funded by the Yves Rocher Foundation. It will be presented every year as part of the “Visa pour l’Image Festival” in the month of September.

TERMS OF PARTICIPATION FOR THE YVES ROCHER FOUNDATION PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD

Be a professional photojournalist.

Write and speak in French and English.

Send a full application (containing the documents listed in Article 3 of the Rules)

To complete your application, you need to:

Fill out and sign the application form. To download the file, click here.

Attach the following documents to your form:

– A resume.

– A cover letter written by the applicant including a description of the proposed photo essay (one typed page maximum).

The call for application of the Photography Award of the Yves Rocher Foundation in partnership with Visa pour l’Image is now open from April, 3rd 2018 to May, 31 2018.

FOR ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:

2016 WINNER

PHIL MOORE

Phil Moore is a 34 year-old, independent photo-journalist and multimedia producer with over five years experience working for top-tier international media.

He was based for five years in Nairobi, Kenya, from where he predominantly covered east-and central-Africa, largely working on conflict and post-conflict issues, marked by two years covering the M23 rebellion in eastern D. R.Congo and its fallout.

He has also worked on a variety of stories elsewhere in the world, such as child labour in Bolivia, rehabilitation of extremists in Pakistan, and the European refugee crisis in the Balkans. His work has appeared in virtually every major international publication, and been recognised by a number of awards and exhibitions.

A multimedia production he created from South Sudan was nominated for the One World Media award in 2015. Combining his experience as a journalist and past-career in web-design, he has nurtured a deep interest in advanced storytelling techniques, levering advances in internet and hardware technologies to produce compelling stories and present them in innovative ways.

HIS PROJECT

The Polygon, Kazakshtan

Deep in the Kazakh steppe, the region of Semipalatinsk—dubbed the “Polygon”—has seen nearly one quarter of the world’s nuclear tests ever conducted. In an area the size of Belgium, 456 atmospheric and underground detonations took place here over the next forty years—an area declared uninhabited. But some 200,000 villagers were used as subjects in the tests, some ordered to stand outdoors when the blasts were detonated, and later examined for the effects of radiation.

Now, nobody knows exactly how many people still live on the former test site, but at ground zero, visitors to the site must wear covers under their shoes, and masks over their faces. Radiation levels are reported as anywhere between 70 and 400 times above normal background levels.There are still residents of the Polygon who witnessed the atomic mushroom clouds of the Soviet tests, but those who are now 85, and time is running out to record their testimonies.

The Research Institute of Radiation Medicine and Ecology keeps records of all the residents—and their descendants—exposed to nuclear fallout. Some 356,000 people face radiation risk, and cancer mortality rates are 2–3 times higher than those elsewhere in Kazakhstan. Birth defects, mental disabilities, and infertility have all plagued residents, and the suicide rate is more than four times the national average.

Mixing desolate landscapes of abandoned test-sites, devoid of life, with intimate portraits of nuclear survivors from the Polygon, this project would explore the effect that testing Man’s most wicked weapon has had on the environment, and the unique legacy that it has left the people living there, recording survivors’ testimonies before their time runs out. As mining begins, and a wave of tourists arrive, I hope to catch this turning point in the region’s history; reopening the planet’s scars. As more nations seek nuclear armement, the Cold War quest for nuclear domination still weighs heavy on Kazakhstan, and serves as a powerful warning against new, nuclear aspirations.